Government of Trinidad and Tobagogov.tt

CARICOM Day 2021

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  •  4 July is commemorated annually as CARICOM Day. It was on this day in 1973 that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was established through the Treaty of Chaguaramas. The Treaty of Chaguaramas came into effect on August 1, 1973.

  • Trinidad & Tobago is one of the founding Member States of CARICOM as it was one of the four countries which signed the Treaty of Chaguaramas in 1973. The other founding Member States are Barbados, Jamaica and Guyana.

  • Today CARICOM is comprised of fifteen (15) Member States and five (5) Associate Members. This regional grouping is primarily made up of island states, however three Member States are not islands. Guyana and Suriname are in South America and Belize is in Central America.

  • CARICOM was not the first attempt at Caribbean integration. The British West Indies Federation was established in 1958. While this ended in 1962, the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) came into effect in 1968.

  • The four (4) pillars of CARICOM are: economic integration; foreign policy coordination; human and social development; and security.

  • The CARCIOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) was established in 2001 through the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. The CSME facilitates the movement of goods, services, capital and people within the region. Under the CSME nationals from participating Member States are also able to set up a business in another participating Member State.

  • Amongst other things, the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas provides for regional consultations amongst governments, workers’ and employers’ organisations i.e. tripartite social dialogue (Article 73).

  • The "CARICOM Human Resource Development (HRD) 2030 Strategy: Unlocking Caribbean Human Potential" was endorsed by Heads of Government in 2017.  The 2030 Strategy aims to promote education and training across the region and is built on four Strategic Priorities: Access, Equity, Quality and Relevance.

  • While English is the official language in most CARICOM Member States, Dutch is the official language in Suriname and French is the official language in Haiti.

  • The Ministry of Labour is the focal point for the implementation of two (2) regional initiatives under CARICOM: i) the Labour Market Information System, which is a regional electronic database for labour market statistics and ii) the expansion of the categories of persons eligible to move under the CSME to include Agricultural Worker and Security Guards.

  • “Celebrating CARICOM” is the official CARICOM song which celebrates the history, culture and identity of the people of the Caribbean. A unique feature of the Song is that certain parts are sung in two indigenous Caribbean languages Kwéyòl (also known as Patois which is spoken in the Lesser Antilles) and Suriname’s Sranan Tongo.